Staffing industry in the U.S. - statistics & facts

Staffing firms operate within the business services industry and work as a medium to find workers for client companies. Unlike recruitment companies, staffing firms primarily deal with temporary and contract job positions, although not necessarily exclusively. Staffing firms find temporary employees to fill job positions for client companies which require staff for short-term work assignments. These positions, which are usually for jobs in the lower skill bracket, may have vacancies available for a variety of reasons. These reasons often include but are not limited to: maternity leave, short-term projects, or periods of high demand within a company. The sector with the highest share of annual temporary staffing sales in the United States was in industrial work. Despite said candidates working within a client company, some remain as employees of the staffing agency. The average employment tenure of contract and temporary employees in the United States has been between nine and 10 weeks over the last several years. This is not the case in all positions, as the employee may go on to be hired permanently by the client company.

High turnovers in finance and personnel

In 2022, the market size of the staffing and recruiting industry in the United States achieved a record high as it fully recovered following the coronavirus pandemic. Furthermore, staffing and recruiting industry sales in the United States also peaked, generating almost 170 billion U.S. dollars in 2021. Despite these impressive financial figures, the turnover rate for temporary and contract staff has remained high over the last few years. This means that companies have to spend more on the cost of recruiting and training, as well as other investments associated with new employees joining a workforce.

Testing times for employers

The main industry challenge faced by staffing and recruitment companies in both North America and the wider world has been a talent shortage, as staffing and recruitment professionals made this their most clear obstacle by some distance. Perhaps somewhat related, the main priority according to professionals at recruitment companies in North America was talent acquisition. As a consequence, this has made attracting skilled candidates a valuable process within the staffing industry, as high starting salaries have become the top method of luring in talent.
This text provides general information. Statista assumes no liability for the information given being complete or correct. Due to varying update cycles, statistics can display more up-to-date data than referenced in the text.
Published by Statista Research Department, Aug 30, 2023

Key insights

Staffing and recruiting industry market size in the U.S.
218bn USD
Staffing industry sales in the U.S.
168bn USD
Temporary and contract revenue share of the U.S staffing and recruiting industry
86%
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